° Amerta Movement of Java 1986-1997: An Asian Movement Improvisation by Lise Lavelle
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° The Embodied Self: movement and psychoanalysis by Katya BloomAmerta Movement of Java 1986-1997: An Asian Movement Improvisation
Lise Lavelle
Amerta Movement is free bodily movement combining the wisdom of Asia with contemporary western dynamics. It isboth a concept and a practice. Life is viewed in terms of flux. Based on ordinary daily movements as well as on working with awareness and attitudes, Amerta Movement employs a technique of great simplicity in attempting to gain understanding, facilitating human growth and developing potentials. The physical body is used as an instrument for exploring identity, self-expression, and communication, with the potential for artistic expression.
Amerta Movement has been created by the Javanese movement instructor, spiritual performance artist and Buddhist, Suprapto Suryodarmo (b. 1945).
The majority of practitioners of Amerta Movement are Westerners or people from other parts of Asia and the Pacific.
They come from all walks of life. Moreover, Amerta Movement has been applied to many fields such as movement education, health and therapy, art, including environmental and new ritual art.
Amerta Movement carries the imprint of the multi-ethnic, multi-spiritual, and multi-artistic Central Javanese society centered in the old court city of Surakarta (Solo). Physically Amerta Movement is rooted in the soil of Central Java, in its natural and cultural environment of temples and power-sites part of Indonesia’s national heritage where a large part of the teaching takes place. It also takes place at Suprapto’s personal practice center, Padepokan Lemah Putih, also called the Lemah Putih School, at Mojosongo village near Solo, where the Javanese nature and its cultural environment have been recreated.
Suprapto also instructs Amerta Movement workshops in Bali at his practice center in Teja Kula village by the ocean as well as outside Indonesia. Thus Amerta Movement has spread beyond Java to Bali as well as to Europe, America, Mexico, Asia Pacific (the Philippines, Japan and Australia) and India. Outside Indonesia Amerta Movement as practicedby Suprapto Suryodarmo’s students is termed Sharing Movement.
Lise Lavelle, Phd, Copenhagen 21 Dec., 2006.
Lise Lavelle
Movement instructor, PhD, Copenhagen, Denmark
Professional training: PhD in Indonesian, Lund University, Sweden (2006).
Teacher of Relaxation & Movement (Psycho-Motor teachers’ training), Ingrid Prahm Seminarium, Denmark (1984).
Work (1988-2007): Instructor of free movement / improvisation & awareness in own workshops called:
Embodyment, Dance of release and transformation, (aka: The Dance of Life & Healing Theater, started, 1988).
Teacher of Relaxation & Movement (Psycho-Motor training) in the adult education, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Indonesia (1977-2007): Amerta Movement studies with Suprapto Suryodarmo, Padepokan Lemah Putih, Solo
(1987-1997, 2007). - Recognized teacher of Amerta Movement (1992). - Creating performances in collaboration with Javanese artists (1990, 1991,1995). - Active interest in the Bonoroto Project using traditional Javanese arts as a dynamo for injecting new life into village societies and for eco-tourism, led by F. Hari Mulyatno and Sri Setyoasih, Bonoroto, Solo (1994, 1997, 2007).- Practitioner of Sumarah meditation (since 1977).
Book: Amerta Movement of Java 1986-1997: An Asian Movement Improvisation (PhD. dissertation),
published 2006 by Centre for Languages and Literature (SOL), Lund University, Box 201, 221 00, Sweden, e-mail: receptionen@sol.lu.se from where the book can be purchased. (ISBN 91-628-6771-7). Price 250 Swedish Kronor (SEK) + mailing expenses. You are welcome to contact Lise Lavelle for further information: liselavelle@mail.dk
The group in 1986 at the Joyokusuman Solo. Photo: Lothar Hahn
The group in 1986 at the Sukuh Temple. Photo: Lothar Hahn
